Ira, at the intersection of State Highway 350 and Farm Road
1606, in southwestern Scurry County, was named for Ira Green, who
built a general store in the area sometime before 1893. The store
soon became a popular meeting place and a way station and mail
drop for the stagecoaches and mail hacks going north from the
Texas and Pacific Railway station at Colorado City.

By 1893 Ira had its first school. When the post office was
established in 1896, Green became postmaster. In 1899 new lands
in the vicinity were put up for sale, and many new settlers moved
to Ira. The first producing oil well in Scurry County was drilled
near Ira in 1923, but the Sharon Ridge field, where the well was
located, was never fully exploited. Though Ira had reached its
peak in the early 1900s, it weathered the later period when many
small Scurry County towns were disappearing and in 1980 reported
a post office, twelve businesses, and an estimated population of
485. In 1990 its population was 250.